ADA Halloween Candy Tips for Oral Health
1. Consume Halloween candy and other sugary foods with meals.
Saliva production increases during meals and helps neutralize acids produced by bacteria in your mouth and helps rinse away food particles.
2. Avoid hard candy and other sweets that stay in your mouth for a long time.
Besides how often you snack, the length of time food is in your mouth plays a role in tooth decay. Unless it is a sugar-free product, candies that stay in the mouth for a long period of time subject teeth to prolonged acid attack, increasing the risk for tooth decay.
3. Avoid sticky candies that cling to your teeth.
The stickier candies, like taffy and gummy bears, take longer to get washed away by saliva, increasing the risk for tooth decay.
4. Chew gum that has the ADA seal.
Chewing sugarless gum for 20 minutes after meals has been shown to reduce tooth decay, because increased saliva flow helps wash out food and neutralize the acid produced by dental plaque bacteria.
Happy Halloween from all of us
Dr. Mullaney, Kim, Paige, Melissa and Erin
Source: www.ada.org